The State Human Rights Commission on Wednesday ordered the Health Department to pay a compensation of `4 lakh to Byju, whose daughter died owing to the alleged negligence of the doctors of Alappuzha Medical College Hospital.
The commission also criticised the misbehaviour of the nurses of the government hospitals.
The order was issued by SHRC member judge R Nadarajan while considering the petition of Byju, Valiyamaram ward,
Alappuzha municipality, at a sitting held at the Alappuzha Guest House here on Wednesday.
According to the complaint, Byju’s daughter Akshaya was admitted to Medical College Hospital on April 4, 2011, as she was suffering from appendicitis. A surgery was performed on her on April 6, but her condition turned worse by around 8.30 pm.
However, there were no doctors in the hospital to attend to her at that time. Though they sought the help of the nurses, they were not ready to assist them. Later, a doctor reached the hospital by around 10 pm and administered some medicines. However, Akshaya died late in the night.
The judge said that as per the reports received by the commission, negligence was found on the part of the hospital authorities. In the post-mortem report, it is mentioned that the cause for death was internal bleeding after the surgery.
The commission directed the state government to deploy adequate pediatricians in all the hospitals. The Health Department should conduct a training programme for nurses in government hospitals to teach them how to behave in a better way with the patients and their relatives.